With another full week of fixtures ahead and in this period where every point is vital towards the promotion push or survival, I notice that once again the “Managers Merry-Go-Round” has burst into life.
Darren Moore previously in charge at Doncaster Rovers and up until recently doing well and still in the playoffs, but it has to be said with no win in 5 games, has jumped ship across the other side of the M1 to join Sheffield Wednesday. Its undoubtedly a step up for Moore, but for how much longer with Wednesday 6 points from safety and looking League 1 bound. Andy Butler a long time servant of the club, a current player and also the manager of the Doncaster Rovers Belles has been put in interim charge.
Probably the most surprising, or is it, is the “mutual consent” departure from Ipswich Town of Paul Lambert. Lambert has struggled to get the Tractor Boys going this season and there have been cries from fans for him to go all season, but they had won the last two against Doncaster Rovers and Hull City and are sitting just two points off the playoffs and are unbeaten in four games. There is talk of a takeover at Ipswich and that might be at the heart of it, but surely if you are going to sack Lambert, the time was right a couple of months ago not now he has got them winning. Former Wigan gaffer Paul Cook is hotly tipped to take over the hot seat at Ipswich, but if Ipswich don’t make the playoffs, he must be favourite to be one of the first managerial casualties at the end of the season.Lets take a look at what happened in Tuesday night’s games.
Wigan 0 Charlton 1
Chuks Aneke got a reprieve from his red card at the weekend dished out by Big Bad Brett Huxstable and his goal was the difference between the two sides. Aneke pounced on a defensive mis up between Curtis Tilt and Tendayi Darikwa and slot it past Jamie Jones. Charlton move back up to 9th and with results going against Wigan they slump to the bottom of the table.
Accrington 1 Ipswich 2
The worst kept secret of the week is that Paul Cook was appointed manager of the Tractor Boys and he was watching from the stands. Stanley took the lead after just 4 minutes when keeper Tomas Holy failed to hang on to a ball across the box and Dion Charles nipped into score. Ten minutes later Stanley were down to 10 men, Conneely sent off for a foul in the box, but Norwood’s spot kick was superbly kept out by Nathan Baxter. Sadly for Baxter on the half hour he had to go off after a collision with Troy Parrott and just 4 minutes later Ipswich were level, James Wilson scoring from a lose ball in the box following a corner. Things went from bad to worse for Stanley as in injury time in the first half Norwood headed home a Dozzell free kick to move Ipswich up to 7th place.
Blackpool 1 Crewe 1
This midtable clash finished all square, the goals coming from Seasiders Daniel Ballard with a powerful header to get his EFL account underway. Former Dons loanee Stephen Walker saved the day for Crewe 4 minutes from the end of normal time getting behind the defence and firing home a low shot past Maxwell.
Burton Albion 1 Bristol Rovers 0
JFH has done something at Burton that’s for sure as they have risen like a Phoenix after looking dead and buried, with this win they are now remarkably up to 18th place. The goal came just three minutes after Rovers had Chelsea loanee Luke McCormick sent off for stupidly kicking the ball away when he was already on a yellow card, I bet Joey had something to say to him after the game. Jonny Smith was the man that did the damage with a superb curling effort that gave Van Stappershoef no chance.
Hull 2 Rochdale 0
Is was a relatively easy night for Hull with a comfortable as you like 2-0 win, with Rochdale having no shots on target all game. A Malik Wilks goal, and an own goal by Osho was the difference between the two sides, and all hope was gone for Dale when Shaughnessy received a straight red 15 minutes from time.
Lincoln 1 Fleetwood 2
Last weekend Fleetwood couldn’t even manage one shot, on or off target but tonight they found their shooting boots and toppled the Imps on their own patch. This was only Fleetwood’s second win in 15 games, and it has dented the title aspirations of Lincoln with others around them all winning. Goals either side of halftime by Ged Garner and Callum Camps rocked the Imps and despite pulling one back through Callum Morton they couldn’t salvage anything out of the game.
Northampton 2 Plymouth 0
Somebody tell me League 1 is not bizarre, last week Argyle beat Lincoln in a 7 goal thriller with a never say die attitude but tonight couldn’t get past a Cobblers team with no win in 11 games, and to add insult to injury this was the Cobblers first home goals scored in 2021. Former Dons player Ryan Watson scored either side of halftime to lift Town up to 22nd.
Oxford 0 Peterborough 0
25 shots, 9 on target and neither team manged to break the last line of defence, although both teams had a chance to win it. The draw ended Posh’s run of 6 straight wins, but they remain on top, but the gap is reduced to 3 points.
Shrewsbury 1 AFC 1
I’ve taken a sudden dislike to the Shrews, based on how they took us apart last weekend I figured they were worth a bet, how wrong can you be. In a dull affair the Shrews took the lead through Harry Chapman who had only just got off the bench following an injury to the Salop skipper Ollie Norburn. Udoh and Main had goals rules out which would have given the Shrews the points when Ayoub Assal with only minutes left bundled the ball home in a goal mouth scramble, to give AFCW a share of the spoils, but they still remain in the bottom four.
Sunderland 1 Swindon 0
The Robins put up a spirited fight at the Stadium of Light, but they couldn’t stop Charlie Wyke nodding home a Maguire cross to score his 24th goal of the season 20 minutes from time to move the Black Cats up to 4th place in the table.
Doncaster 2 Portsmouth 1
It was a welcome return to form for Doncasterlona as they beat promotion chasing Pompey to put themselves back in a playoff berth on level points with Portsmouth. Goals from Reece James and Fejiri Okenabirhie got interim boss Andy Butler off to the perfect start, a late goal deep into injury time from John Marquis was nothing more than a consolation.
